Soul's Secret
by AMessofADreamerx
Summary: "Secret is a story of a girl with many secrets- first one being that really isn't her name, but she only remembers an echo of a time she was called anything else. Second being she is scientifically engineered to hear your secrets if your eyes -the window to the soul- catches hers. Third, she was the weapon that won many wars. And fourth..." - rest of summery inside
1. Chapter 1

"Secret is a story of a girl with many secrets- first one being that really isn't her name, but she only remembers an echo of a time she was called anything else. Second being she is scientifically engineered to hear your secrets if your eyes -the window to the soul- catches hers. Third, she was the weapon that won many wars. And fourth, to most she's a legend, a folklore, but since we're finally telling the truth here, she escaped the place that changed her five years ago, and we need to find her now. Before anyone else does."

_At this point, I've seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier twice, and I have current plans to see it two more times. It's really good guys and if you haven't seen it, you need to get your butt down to the theater man. This is set after the movie. I would say the Winter Soldier/Bucky and my OC Secret are the main characters, but all the Avengers will regularly be in the chapters. _

_So that being said I don't own the Avengers or the Winter Soldier. I do own my OC Secret. _

_And I apologize in advance: I don't normally write in third person. It feels awkward to me, but I've read some pretty amazing fanfictions in third person lately, so I decided I need to get over myself and practice. So if it sounds weird sometimes, let me know. Or if I accidentally say something like 'I said' instead of 'she said'. That's happened many times writing this first chapter... anyways._

_Thanks y'all! Review and let me know what you think. :)_

**CHAPTER ONE**

In her wintery fortress underground, Secret watched an unusual man with overgrown dark hair and a silver arm stumble through the snow- unusual mainly in the fact that this deep in the mountains was where no humans ever wandered, as she had intended. He was first she'd seen in the five years she's held herself up in the little bomb-like shelter buried beneath a small clearing.

Secret used a small television to view the outside world. It flickered occasionally and if you turned up the volume, all you'd hear is white noise but it was enough for her. It let her keep an eye out for the wildlife she fed herself with. And see how many times a day it snowed. Or count how many times it blacked out each hour... or minute. But it was enough for Secret.

That not to say she wasn't very excited over the fact that the man was staggering closer and closer to her door, which lay hidden under the snow. She debated going out to him before he collapsed to ground and curled up like a spider dying.

Cold nipped her cheeks before she even realized she'd made the decision to make sure he was okay. Pulling herself up from the last few steps of the ladder, Secret flinched from his screaming.

"Hey," She said softly, walking slowly towards him, "Hey now, are you okay?" Her voice was a little raspy, as the only time she got to talk was when she talked to herself, and she had tried to keep that to a minimum.

He clenched his teeth, trying to keep from crying out, at the sight of her. He thought he was days away from a living soul. He gasped to try to calm himself, but ending failing miserably as reason left him.

Secret kneeled in the snow next to him and placed a hand on his arm in comfort. He closed his eyes, his body taut. He let out a breath and fell back, unraveling himself.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. It never needed to be louder, before and now.

She was searching his face, taking in his body, watching how his chest rose and went back down. Secret hadn't seen it in so long that it nearly took her breath away.

He didn't respond. His eyes slid open and just stared unblinkingly into the bright sky.

"Hey," Secret said again, gently tapping his arm. He seemed... catatonic. Sighing, she pulled him over to her trap door and wondered how she was going to get him down to her little home. Thinking about how little the drop ultimately was, and especially to a guy as tall as him, she decided on trying to slip him down there feet first. He made it, though crumbled to his knees, falling back against the ladder.

She jumped down and dragged him over to her bed. Secret not-so-gently jerked him onto her bed and went to pull shut her door. Shivering a little, she went back to his side. She tried to never open the door for long. Her place was well insulated, but she didn't like the cold at all.

It wasn't too long later when the man's body relaxed and he slowly blinked. He sat up and caught Secret's eye from across the room and the words _I won't know who I am before I lose my mind _whispered in her mind. She swallowed and looked away. Don't ever look people in the eye, she reminded herself.

"Hi." She said quietly, slowing standing up, like he was a wild animal that would bolt if she moved too fast.

"Hi." He replied warily, eyes trained on every movement, though he didn't feel like she was much of a threat at this moment.

"What... who..." Secret paused for a second, not sure what question to ask first. "Who are you?" She finally said.

His eyes sized her up again, but he stayed quiet.

"Um well. I'm Secret," She put out hesitantly, taking a small step towards him.

"Secret?" He questioned, watching her feet.

"Yeah. Yeah, I don't really... well. I guess I don't really know my real name." She admitted, though a name did echo in the back of her mind. _They_ told her it was something she made up, but she was never sure.

Secret stared at his forehead, though she felt him trying to catch her eye. "What's your name?" She asked softly. This moment felt like thin glass, like it could shatter at only moment.

He paused a moment, and she saw him swallow. "Bucky," He said this hesitancy.

"What, do you not know your name either?" Secret joked, a couple feet away from him now. She pulled a chair from against the wall, and his eyes went to that. She slowly sat down and thought about his secret, _I won't know who I am before I lose my mind, _when he suddenly smiled, though very slightly.

"I'm remembering," Bucky replied quietly.

"My name, my real one," She slightly stuttered, "is only a memory."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's a long story, Bucky." Secret smiled bitterly.

"Tell me the story. I have time." His mouth formed awkwardly over the joke, like it's been a while since he's done it.

"Do you really?" She replied sarcastically before sighing, "How about I tell you a happy one instead? I think you could go for a happy story instead."

Bucky shrugged and Secret smiled at the story she was about to tell.

"Once upon a time there was a very, very smart girl and smart, but not very-very smart, guy. She was very pretty and sweet and nobody ever saw her mad. She had so much patience. He was very handsome, though a hot tempered redhead, but when they met she kept him control. It was love at first sight. They married and had a girl named Ellie that had her mom's pale face and brown hair and her father's temper and hazel eyes and they lived happily ever after." _Or till she was kidnapped by their best friend, the man she called her uncle, at the age of 5, never to be seen again, to be exposed to some colorful lights and turned freak and tested on and used till she ran away at 15..._ However she added this to herself.

"Ellie sounds an awful like you." Bucky commented. With his few word sentences, she hadn't noticed how flat his voice was, nearly void of all emotion.

Secret nodded with small smile.

"How did you end up here, not sure if Ellie's your real name?" He asked.

Hearing what she thought was her name ran chills up her back. It's been 15 years since anyone has ever called her that, and everyone she knew at the labs told her it was just a dream, her imagination. Something she thought up. But her name was, and always had been, Secret.

She didn't believe them. She couldn't count how many times they lied to her.

But just she shrugged, "I'm not called Secret for no reason."

Bucky just nodded slowly and stated, "I'm suppose to be dead. I fell off a train, but I did not die."

"Sounds like your past might be as screwed up as mine. Tell me about it? I mean, after all, your name isn't Secret. Your story now," She leaned back against her chair.

"But I was a secret for so long, and during that time my name was the Winter Soldier." He replied, relaxing a little bit more.

"Sounds very dramatic."

Bucky actually let out a short laugh, "It kinda was. I was an assassin."

"Oh, you too?" She deadpanned, but something felt like it was coming alive in her. What? Was he... like her? His thought from earlier, his _soul's secret_\- the deepest secret of all, was he was never going to figure who he really was. No, he wasn't going to figure out who he truly was before he went before he went insane. _I may know a thing about that_, she thought to herself. But she would die for that secret to be kept just that, a secret.

"Yeah," surprise slightly colored his voice, "I was an assassin for HYDRA. I was the best... you?" He said after a pause.

Secret bit her lip nervously before answering. She had fought (and killed) a few HYDRA agents over the years. "SHIELD. What changed?" She finally answered, staring at the cement ground.

"SHIELD?" Bucky exclaimed- nearly. It was the most emotion Secret'd seen from him this whole time, though.

"You first. What changed?" She asked quicky, keeping her eyes down. She waited for his answer and it took a moment to get one.

"Apparently I'd been brainwashed into being the Winter Soldier." He admitted softly.

"Brainwashed?"

"Yeah. Steve- Captain- you know Captain America?" Her eyes widened, of course she knew of him, but he just continued on, "He saved me from them, but not before they, uhm, tested on me. Changed me. I didn't know this till after Steve saved me and then I fell off a train, but survived. Then they took me, brainwashed me." He paused, "Atleast that's what I can put together from my memories. But they're kinda messed up. I have to pick and choose what's real and not."

"That's pretty intense, and I, uh, remember hearing about your death, and-and about Captain America's. He's partial to the reason why _I _exist," Secret shrugged, but wouldn't say no more.

"I was very, very, VERY much so a _secret_," She finally said, a quick grin flashed across her face, "I think about nine people in the whole entire world knew about me."

"I'm starting to understand why your name is Secret." Bucky smiled, though he looked like he was slightly in pain. Secret laughed, at the joke, but mostly at him.

"What have you been doing? What are you been doing now?" She asked him.

"I've been... trying to figure myself out. Found out the story of my supposed death at a museum, after nearly killing Captain America, and that's when-"

"-wait, nearly _killing_ Captain America? Isn't he already _dead_?" She interrupted in shock.

"That's, uh, that's _so last year_," He tried to feign attitude, but it came off flat. He sighed but continued on, "He froze in solid ice and it like preserved him, exactly as it was. Like me. Same thing also happened to me, except mine was purposeful. They found him and woke him up and yeah, he's alive just like me." Bucky finished, but then added quietly, "He's looking for me. Keeps getting close. I want to see him, but..." he trailed off and shook his head.

"But what?" Secret asked, a mix of curiosity and concern at the sudden drop of his face.

This time he shrugged it off, but said, "Remembering can be painful. And I'm just not... myself quite yet. I don't know how to socialize, how to have emotion. The Winter Soldier had no emotion."

But Secret knows when a secret is being kept from her. However she didn't say anything about that.

"Is that another reason why you're called Secret? With your wide eyes and honest face, I could tell you anything. I feel... almost normal right now," Bucky said, an half smile forming.

She smiled back, "Surely doesn't hurt." She subconsciously ran a hand through her brown hair.

"But I have noticed avoid my eyes, but if you do, you flinch away." He tried to catch mine and I panicky closed my eyes. "Does it hurt you? I'm not looking anymore."

I slowly opened my eyes and forcefully stared at the floor. "Doesn't hurt me, but the whole 'eyes are the window to your soul' thing is real for me. I hear your deepest secret, aka 'soul's secret', if I meet any eyes."

Bucky leaned forward and whistled. "Wow. They tested on you, too?"

"Yeah, with some purple glow-y stuff. I don't really know what, but I was five. Over the next couple of years, they trained me into a weapon. What little girl wants to be that? What little girl wants to kill people with their darkest secrets? So when I was fifteen, with the help of one of the scientists, I escaped. I've been here five years now," Secret shrugged, "Nobody knows I'm here, except you now. What should I do? SHIELD would have made me kill you."

He stiffened ever so slightly that I immediately blurted, "I wouldn't do that, though. I'm not them."

He nodded. "Force of habit."

"So, I guess it does lead to this part of the conversation... what are your plans?" Secret asked, the balloon of excitement deflating in her. This was going to have to end. It's just going to be her again. By herself. She suddenly felt cold with loneliness. She was regretted bringing him in and she realized even in the short time they've talked, she'd gotten attached.

And how is Secret going to ensure she will stay a secret deep in these wintery mountains?

"I kind of just want to be alone. I just want to sort my mind out," Bucky answered, and she nodded.

"It was really nice to have you here. I've been so alone," She said honestly, "I'll go get something for dinner, and something extra for your journey," She stood up to get her arrows and some makeshift traps, and he made a movement to get up as well, "No, you stay! Rest. I won't be long."

He made a noise to protest, but Secret cut him off, "Please. Just stay here a little longer. For me. You don't know how badly I want someone to come home to, just once."

Bucky sat back against the bed and said nothing, and Secret packed up and went out into the dark, cold air.

* * *

What Secret had said to Bucky was the truth, complete and honest. Nearly too honest, she felt, but it had just bursted out in a moment of panic. Coming back from hunting, that's all she could think again. That for the first time ever, she had someone to come home to. It saddens her she will never have it again, but she forced that thought down, and pretended this was how it was always going to be.

Secret opened the latch to her little bunker and dropped her catches down. "I'm back," She called before jumping down.

Bucky stood tense and prepared at the foot of her bed. "Hey, Bucky, it's just me," She said, dropping her arrows and traps and putting her hands up. It was useless, though, he lunged at her anyways.

She managed to just dodge him. In complete shock, she exclaimed, "Bucky!"

He slammed her bed against her, pinning her against the wall. Secret had gotten weak, being alone and not fighting for years, and add her surprise over his attack, Bucky quickly overcame her trapped there.

Closing his hands around her throat, he replied, "Who the hell is Bucky?"


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm so excited to get this show on the rode! updates have been slow because of work, but I'm hoping to get back on track. Let me know what you think! Thanks for the review That BIRCH. I really really really appreciate it! :)_

**CHAPTER TWO**

Tony Stark, under the guise of Iron Man, silently padded through a huge old building. Positioned all around were metal pens and dried up hay flung around, like a bunch of tiny horse rings. This place was some kind of stable. Surrounding the massive barn were a big open field, and, on the other side, an old farmhouse, where Tony planned to search next.

Rounding a corner, he hit another man. This man with dark eyes and messy hair, looked utterly startled, looking in every which direction. It was this moment Tony remembered the invisibility setting he installed in his suit one sleepless night and it took another moment to recognize the man.

"Banner!" He cried happily, before muttering, "Disengage invisibility."

Tony in his massive suit man of iron suddenly appeared, and a small smile played on Bruce Banner's lips. "Making more updates, I see?"

"Got a message to meet here, too, I see?" Tony replied, with a shrug to answer Bruce's question.

But the man just nodded and opened his mouth to answer, when another voice called out quietly, but in a deep, commanding voice, "Tony! Bruce!"

The two of them turned, ready to fight, but they found another man they knew.

"Thor! How ya doing, buddy?" Tony exclaimed, but an uneasy feeling had settled over him. Why were members of his Avengers team being lead to one location?

But Thor shared the same suspicions, and he peered around as he answered, "All is well. Jane and I are to be married," He glanced between Tony and Bruce, "You all are invited. Jane is sending out invitations."

"Lovely to hear," Tony replied.

"And Lady Pepper?"

"Lady Pepper," Tony smirked over the title, "is swell. She'll be happy to hear of the engagement. And Bruce? Special ladies in your life?"

Bruce shrugged, "Who wants to date a guy with split personality disorder?"

"Glad you three are catching up," a new voice called from behind them. They swirled around, embracing to fight, and found another familiar face with red hair.

"Our dear friend, Black Widow! Why am I not surprise?" Tony said in greeting.

"We called you here for a reason," she replied, and Clint Barton came into view from trailing behind her.

"Of course he'd get special treatment," Tony mumbled ungraciously at the sight of him.

Natasha just rolled her eyes but then demanded, "I need to know. Where do your loyalties lay?" Her eyes flashed intensely.

Tony crossed his arms, giving her a once over. Over these past couple of months, he's been approached from both sides and he's just so over it.

Bruce answered cautiously, "Where they've always laid."

Natasha caught Thor and Tony's eyes and they nodded. "Good," she said, her body slightly relaxing, "There's something that I need to show you, but is to stay in the room."

They followed her out the warehouse and to the old farmhouse. They were met with outdated furniture and floral print wallpaper. She lead them to the kitchen, where a man sat at the table. A man with dark skin and dark clothes. When they walked in, he slid up his sunglasses, revealing a brown eye and cloudy white one.

"Fury!?" the name was gasped among the new group. As far as the world knew, Nick Fury was dead.

"Oh, don't look to excited," Nick deadpanned. The look of shock was only now getting wiped off their face, to be replaced by blank ones.

"You're suppose to be dead," Bruce said, a little flat.

"I was going to be dead, if I didn't kill myself," Nick replied.

"So you're just here, hiding out? What, gonna raise a farm?" Tony asked, with thinly restrained anger.

"I've been here, making plans-"

"And while you've been 'making plans', the world has gone to hell!" Tony nearly shouted, "It's a war between Hydra and Shield, and Shield is losing everyday, with so many casualties-"

"Somebody needs to take a step back and think," Fury answered in a low voice.

"While people who don't know what's going on, die," Tony finished for him in the same low voice.

"You're right, this is a war, and currently we don't know who's who, who we can trust and who we can't, and we needed to step back, and regroup,"

"So you kill yourself, but not really, just kill our hope? It's been a tough fight, Fury," Tony said.

Fury sighed and replied, "I know. I've been through it before and I'm going through it now with you," Tony opened his mouth to say something at this, but Nick just talked over him, "But that is not the matter at hand. The matter at hand would make this war look like child's play. If the matter at hand, got in their hands."

Taking a bit breath, Nick Fury starts, "I'm going to tell you a story. Secret is a story of a girl with many secrets- first one being that really isn't her name, but she only remembers an echo of a time she was called anything else. Second being she is scientifically engineered to hear your secrets if your eyes -the window to the soul- catches hers. Third, she was the weapon that won many wars. And fourth, to most she's a legend, a folklore, but since we're finally telling the truth here, she escaped the place that changed her five years ago, and we need to find her now. Before anyone else does. That's what you're here about, and that's the matter at hand."

It was very quiet as everyone registered about this girl.

"This girl, Secret," Tony started, and Fury nodded, "Is she dangerous?"

"She can be, yes. However it's like a psychotic trance. After she snaps out of it, she doesn't remember," Fury answered.

"How'd she escaped?" Bruce asked this time.

"A man took pity on her and helped her escaped. She was being tortured, being forced to do horrific things by the time she was 15."

"Her age?" Thor said.

"Nobody knows for certain, but around 20," Nick nearly hesitated over the next works he was going to say, "She was kidnapped by a family friend when she was four because no one would consent to having their child tested on. He claimed she was his, but really no one in that group cared."

"Poor girl," Bruce muttered.

"Congratutions. Most people with this information have been killed by her in her assasin days," Fury replied.

"What are you going to do to her, once we find her?" Tony asked, a little harshly, but it was a question that needed to be asked nonetheless.

Nick looked him in the eye, and answered, "We are going to protect her."

"What if she doesn't want to come?" Bruce said.

"She has to come. They will found out about her, if they have not already, and they will come for her. She may escape, but they will keep hunting her," Nick replied.

Tony looked between his team; Thor, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint... and realized someone was missing.

"Hey, where's the Spangles? He didn't really go rogue?" Tony asked, remembering what had been annouced on the news a couple months ago.

Fury shook his head, eyeing Natasha, "You know his story, you know about Bucky. He's alive and Rogers went to look for him."

"He was froze and changed like Steve, but he was brainwashed into an assasin," Natasha informed us, "The Winter Soldier. Steve found him last year, and apparently found hope in him."

"So he's out for the count," Tony said, a little disappointed.

"How do you suggest we find Secret?" Bruce turned his thoughtful eyes on Nick Fury.

* * *

They were close, Steve could feel it. Close to finding Bucky. It was like he could almost see him walking the same steps Steve was walking. Bucky had been here. He'd been here, on this snow covered mountain in the middle of Scandinavia.

Where was he now? How far behind are they? Steve didn't even know what he wanted to do when he saw him, but he just knew he needed to. He hoped Bucky was near by.

But that feeling changed in two seconds flat, when suddenly black clad men jumped out of the shadows, giving his friend the jump. Sam managed to tumble and flip the other guy, but it was clear they were outnumbered.

Steve didn't believe they were outmatched though.

However each time they killed one of HYDRA -obviously it was them- another one came to take it's place. Steve was fine, however feeling annoyed, but Sam was obviously fighting exhaustion.

Suddenly an arrow cut through the air, narrowing missing Steve's head. He flung around to see the target, and found it had landed squarely in a man's throat. He fell to the ground. Steve turned back around, eyes squinting into the woods.

"You idiots," a soft voice cut through the snow-lit darkness, and another arrow flew out, hitting another man in the chest. Steve glanced at Sam, who despite rather being rather preoccupied, had an ear trained to the area of the girl's voice.

"I beg your pardon?" Steve called, banging someone in the head with his shield.

"You. Idiots," She hissed again, another arrow shooting through the sky. He didn't even look back for the target- he knew it hit it's mark, especially by the cry of pain he heard. A small women with a pale face and dark hair finally came into view, dropping her bow and an arrow case, and joining the battle only with her fists (and feet),

Momentarily stunned by her, Steve let his guard down enough to get grazed by a knife. The guy who tried to stab him didn't last much longer than that, but in a stance, he just stared at it for a moment.

"Yo, earth to boy," the women yelled towards him. The women who couldn't be more than 18 and she was alone, but the edge in her voice brought him back. Shaking his head, Steve got back to the fight.

"You okay?" Sam tried to call to him, but it was mainly swallowed up by his ragged gasps.

"Peachy, you?" He diffused back to him, trying not to look his friend's way, but by the way Sam breathed, he had a feeling something was wrong.

"O-okay," Sam rasped back. Steve tried to focus on what _he_ was doing right now, on _who_ he was fighting, but he found his mind flicking between Sam and the new girl.

"Kill them all. Don't let anyone escape," She announced, running after a retreater. She'd acquired one of knifes a few of them had on them and threw it, and it hit perfectly the back of his head. Steve tried to swallow down the chills that threatened his body.

She returned and, as she stared solidly behind him, said each word again forcefully, "Kill. Them. All. No one can slip away!"

"Shouldn't we try to keep one to interrogate," huffed Sam from behind Steve.

"No," the girl answered, voice hard. Much to Steve's shame, the crowd had drastically turned into fallen bodies after she joined them. There was only a handful to each person now. Then three, then two. Then Steve only had one person to fight.

"Please," the man begged. Steve got a good look at his face, he was only a kid. 18 or 19. "I'll tell you anything you need. Please," he whispered, blood dripping from his cracked lips.

"Thomas," another man gasped in warning, before the girl stabbed him in the stomach, and he said no more.

"I will, I swear," Thomas pleaded, "Anything, please."

"Maybe we could do an interrogation..." Steve trailed off, looking for Sam, but just as their eyes met, the boy gasped a strangled sound, and blood painted his chest.

"No survivors," gritted through the girl's teeth, coming into view after the kid collapsed. But again, her eyes forcefully stared behind him.

Angrily, Steve turned to the girl, "What the hell are you doing? He was going to... he needed... We're in a war..." He was so pissed he suddenly couldn't form words.

"We're always in a war, sweetheart," she said, and added, dropping her eyes to the ground, in a softer voice, "I can't be found."

"What makes you so special?" Steve asked, almost shaking with fury.

"Phewee, that was fun," Sam cut in next to him, trying to defuse the intensity between them.

She rolled her eyes, "Like I'm going to tell you. Last time I told someone my secrets, he tried to kill me and ran off with them." Then her breath caught, as Steve bent down to pick up his shield.

"You really are alive," she blurted, not looking like the crazy assasin murderer she was two second ago, before her face fell into a cold facade. Now the battle haze was starting to wear off, Steve noticed the dark marks around her neck, like she'd been choked.

"What happened?" He asked gently, nodding to them. She bit her lip, mask cracking again.

She looked him up and down, sizing him up. Pushing her lip back out, she answered, "He knew you."

Steve almost stopped breathing for a second. "Bucky?"

She nodded, and then he asked, "He did that to you?" He tried to catch her eye, to figure out if she was telling the truth and she jerked her gaze away. If the warning bells hadn't gone off already about her, the sirens were starting.

Steve didn't know whether to ask, _what did you do _or _what did he do_, so he stayed quiet. He didn't know how he was doing. What if he was falling back into being the Winter Soldier? What if being alone is making him forget who he is?

Her look turned thoughtful. "He trusted you," she stated, before adding, "But he didn't want you knowing. He's not doing well..."

But before Steve could ask more, she said, "Let's clean this up" and refused to say no more.

Later on, after the fight, Secret felt jittery with nerves. What if they missed someone? What if she... she closed her eyes. She turned into the monster she tried so hard not to be, but if word got out she was alive... and now Captain America and his friend was sitting in her little bunker.

"Are you ever going to tell us who you are?" His friend asked. He had short hair and dark skin, and seemed like a nice guy. He'd been injured though, Steve had to tightly bound his ribs.

"You haven't told me who y'all are," Secret answered, raising her eyebrow.

"You know who we are," The man sputtered, and she shook her head.

"I know who Captain America is, as he screwed up my life, but I don't know you," She replied.

"He's Sam, and I'm Steve," Steve cut in, obviously, trying to speed things up, but she wasn't sure if she trusted them. Last time she'd trusted somebody...

But she finally said, "Secret."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Secret."

"Are you seriously NOT-" He started, angrily.

"No, it's my name. It's all I've known," Secret sighed, but it was like her heartbeat said _Ellie-Ellie-Ellie_. She felt like she just told this story, to Bucky. What happened? Is he okay? But she forced that thought out of her head. She had to.

"How did I screw up your life?" Steve asked quietly, and she sighed again.

"Testing on people picked up after you died. I'm one of those rather successful attempts," She answered.

"So... you have superpowers too?" Sam asked, and Steve elbowed him, signalling him to shut up.

But the way he said it made Secret laugh. "I don't feel too 'super' when using them, but yeah."

She carefully intertwined her fingers, preparing herself for the next question.

"So they gave you the power of being a badass?" He asked, making her laugh again.

"No, I had to work at that," Secret answered with a smile. She didn't say anything more, enjoying the way Steve tried to not look interested, but he had leaned in unbeknowst to him, and was rather humored by badly Sam wanted to know. He raised his eyebrows.

"I can't look into your eyes," She said hesitantly.

"What happens if you do?" Steve asked, knowing he had cut her eyes at some point that night.

"I hear your soul's secret," She replied softly. She pointedly kept her eyes on her laced together fingers.

"Soul's Secret...?" Sam spoke up first.

"Your eyes are the window to your soul, and your soul ain't always a beautiful thing. Your deepest secrets reside there, and I get the pleasure of hearing them," Secret explained.

"So when you met my eyes earlier..." Steve trailed off, looking intently at her face, before looking away. It was habit to have eye contact.

She remembered, when he was asking about Bucky, and he tried to meet her eyes. "Yes," she hesitanted then said, "'It's all my fault' was a constant loop till I could break away."

Steve breathed out heavily and Sam looked uncomfortable next to him. "Sounds like a familiar thought," He muttered under his breath.

Screwed up people followed her like a magnet. Before and now.

Steve shook his head in disbelief.

"Okay, cooool," Sam breathed out the word, as if trying to stay calm.

Secret nodded, with a bitter smile on her face.

"How did you get here?" Steve asked her, and she thought momentarily of Bucky, of how it was like pulling teeth to get a word out of him, and she had a weird feeling of missing him.

"A man in the lab I was at took pity on me," She answered.

"And your parents? You're not that old," Sam said.

"My uncle worked for the lab... and he kidnapped me when I was five. I don't know my parents," She admitted, and kicked herself internally for being so honest. Not even Bucky knew that.

"That's sick, man," Sam replied, with a look of pity on his face.

Secret shut her eyes so she couldn't see it, "It is what it is."

A loud static noise suddenly filled the room. Steve and Sam looked around confused, but Secret knew what could possibly be making that sound, and cautiously she stood up, and made her way to her little television.

A man's face appeared, distorted but recognizable. It was the man who smuggled her out. The trusting, open face, and those puppy dog eyes always calmed her, and this moment was no different. But his face was lined with stress and tense with concern, and dark eyes filled with worry.

"_Coulson_," Steve gasped from behind Secret.

"They've found you," He announced urgently.


End file.
